Nintendowned: Amazon sells out of the NES Classic Edition in (null) seconds

We knew the NES Classic Edition, with its retro aesthetic and solid game selection, would be hard to get at first, but this is some next level, Tickle Me Elmo-style demand. Amazon, which made its supply of the console available at 2PM Pacific today, sold out in what appeared to be less than a minute.

Clearly thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of gamers were sitting on the product page hammering the F5 key and some random selection thereof got their wish. Traffic on that page in particular was so heavy that either Amazon took it down, or it went down by itself — and considering the resources Amazon has at hand, that’s a pretty amazing feat.

There’s no indication of how many consoles Amazon had to sell, but it had to have been a fair few. I can confirm at least one was sold:

I and pretty much everyone here at TechCrunch failed to secure one, though.

Everywhere else seems to be fresh out, as well. The GameStop near me said it only received 17 units and sold them within half an hour of opening. There were plenty of reports of people waiting outside Targets and Best Buys in order to get theirs.

More will be arriving, though: In a series of tweets this morning, Nintendo assured an agitated public that “there will be a steady flow” of the hot gadgets. So don’t buy a $1,000 one on the black market. Yet.

The Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition system is a hot item, and we are working hard to keep up with consumer demand. 1/3